Arizona nonprofit, DoT work to provide homeless with state IDs

U.S. states are continuing their piecemeal introduction of state-issued identity cards with a new project in the state of Arizona attempting to provide IDs to homeless people.

The Arizona Department of Transportation will open a new Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) office at the Human Services Campus in Phoenix, which assists people living on the street with access to housing, employment, health services and more.

The initiative was launched by Homeless ID, a nonprofit whose mission is to get as many homeless people a state-issued ID as possible, Arizona’s Family reports.

In the United States, identity documents are typically issued by a patchwork of offices, with most citizens relying on regional state-issued driver’s licenses or identity cards. This also means that the country has seen a wide variety of digital ID projects with several U.S. states launching pilots​​ to explore mobile driver licenses. Federal efforts have been limited.

Lacking an ID card, however, is a significant barrier for people who are on the streets and need to access government social services and regain their self-sufficiency, according to Homeless ID. The organization has so far helped provide 8,000 state-issued IDs and is hoping to increase this figure to more than 17,000 ID’s this year.

“You can’t get a job, you can’t get housing, can’t cash a check, can’t open a bank account, can’t enter rehab programs,” says Rick Mitchell, executive director of the Homeless ID Project. “You’ve got to have an ID if you want to change your life.”

Similar efforts have also been seen in some developing nations where many people lack identification documents. In the Philippines, the government has launched a central database of homeless individuals that relies on biometrics.

The Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Oplan Pag-Abot Project aims to issue its own ID cards which will not have the status of “government-issued” IDs but can be used to connect people with social workers and essential services such as medical and financial assistance, food, transport and work opportunities.

The country has launched its digital identity scheme, the Philippines Identification System (PhilSys), and plans to use it alongside its identity card PhilID to fast-track the distribution of social benefits and the digital transformation of government services.

Article Topics

Arizona  |  digital ID  |  identity document  |  social protection  |  United States